"It takes courage to write about motherhood in a culture that sets women with children on the sidelines, and it takes even greater courage to give voice to the powerful emotions and fears that swirl deep beneath the surface of our daily lives..."
-Kathleen Hirsch and Katrina Kenison, Mothers

Tuesday, February 22, 2011

responses to memoir prompt

Head over to The Red Dress Club today and check out all the wonderful responses to the memoir prompt I provided last week. I'm in heavy-prep mode for the Mother Words Retreat, which starts this Thursday, but I'm going to try to read all of the responses by the end of the week. If you wrote a response to the prompt, don't forget to link it to The Red Dress Club!

2 comments:

Sorry for putting this here, but I wasn't sure where else to put it. I was just reading your "about me" section and wanted to say that I also experienced a premature birth due to severe preeclampsia. It was actually considered eclampsia since I actually had a seizure at 33 weeks. My son was born by C-section that day, 2 pounds 13 ounces. He was small for his gestational age due to the fact that I also had an undiagnosed bicornuate uterus. Scary stuff. I was only 18 years old. Anyway, my point was actually to say that my little preemie is a 5'7" fifteen-year-old boy who's rocking some Metallica on his guitar in his bedroom as I type this. The fact that either of us are even here excites me every day.

contact me

about me

I'm a mama and writer and teacher. I've been helping mothers tell the stories they need to tell since 2006. My first book, Use Your Words: A Writing Guide for Mothers, is just out from Viva Editions. I've also written a memoir, Small Continents, which is about the premature birth of my daughter due to severe preeclampsia and is currently being shopped around. I teach "Motherhood & Words" online and at the Loft Literary Center in Minneapolis. I'm interested in writing and teaching and motherhood and where these things intersect. On this blog I review motherhood literature, interview authors, check in about my own writing and teaching, and sometimes post about my daughters. Join the discussion!

disclosure

I do not receive pay for promoting or reviewing books or interviewing authors on Mother Words, though I do sometimes receive free review copies from authors and publishers. My first responsibility is to my readers and I am committed to honest reviews. Please note that I do not trash books or authors, so if your book doesn’t work for me or isn’t a fit for Mother Words, I will not post about it.